Europe cries foul over US dumping claims

European Aluminium has criticised a US investigation into the alleged dumping of common alloy sheet from countries including Croatia, Germany, Greece, Italy, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain and Turkey.

Following complaints by five US aluminium producers, the US International Trade Commission inquiry was launched on 9 March. Common alloy sheet is widely used in the transportation, building and construction, infrastructure, electrical and marine sectors. Other countries being investigated include Bahrain, Brazil, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Korea, Oman, Serbia, South Africa and Taiwan.

European Aluminium, which represents more than 80 companies with more than 600 plants in 30 counties across the continent, rejects allegations of ‘injurious dumping and subsidisation’. Instead it urges the US authorities to work with the European Commission to address subsidised Chinese overcapacity, which it says is the root cause of the challenges faced by the aluminium industries in Europe and the US.

Gerd Götz, director general of European Aluminium, says his members are ‘very concerned’ about the possibility of additional trade barriers between the US and Europe.

‘Work together’

‘Instead of imposing additional duties on each other, we should work together to address the root cause of the challenges faced by the aluminium industries on both sides of the Atlantic,’ he says. ‘Additional duties will be yet another blow to European producers, who already are under immense pressure from unfairly priced exports of aluminium products from China, the US duties on aluminium imports from Europe, and now the impact of the COVID-19 crisis.’

Since the US imposed a blanket tariff on all aluminium imports to the US in March 2018 (Section 232 tariffs), Europe has found itself increasingly squeezed between the US and China.

‘Europe has always provided the US with a trusted and stable supply source for aluminium. We look forward to a fact-based investigation because we strongly believe that the petitions filed against European countries are not justified,’ adds Götz.